Click to view Admit it — you thought your retinal profile and fingerprints were the only unique IDs you could use to get into secret government labs (or exclusive vampire nightclubs). But there's a new futuristic identification system on the way, and that is the VeinID finger vein authentication technology from Hitachi, Ltd. Yes, that's the same team of geniuses who gave us the legendary Magic Wand vibrator; I'd say Hitachi knows what it's doing when it comes to innovations that involve the human body. VeinID is already at work at many ATMs and doorways in Japan, and Hitachi scientists say this form of ID scan is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than its alternatives.As it happens, the pattern of veins inside your body is a truly personal design, an intricate spider's web that is wholly your own. By flashing low-wavelength light through your middle finger, Hitachi's VeinID reader can get a digital profile of the vein pattern there in less than a second. Hemoglobin in the blood absorbs the light, making it possible for the VeinID camera to record a 3-D image of where that hemoglobin exists in your middle finger. The image below from Hitachi's website is a bit hard to read, but it still illustrates the process.

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The best part? All of it happens in less than a second. You can even register the unique vein patterns of other fingers for back-up purposes. Plus, you don't need to wash your hands before identification; in most cases, there's no light-absorbing hemoglobin in dirt. And unlike fingerprints, finger vein profiles cannot be faked by chopping off a digit and holding it up to the light, TimesOnline reassures us:

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The gruesome possibility that criminals may hack off a finger has already been discounted by Hitachi's scientists. Asked if authentication could be "forged" with a severed finger, the company says: "As blood would flow out of a disconnected finger, authentication would no longer be possible."